


it's getting dark, darling (too dark to see)

by TheDeadRoses



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Everyone is Paranoid, F/M, Grant Ward gets treated like a person (for once), Nightmares, Torture, most of the boys cry at least three times, possible trigger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-18 16:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3575790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDeadRoses/pseuds/TheDeadRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months after Skye reveals her true self, Coulson sends her on a blind mission to rescue Grant Ward, who HYDRA has been torturing for information on SHIELD. Still bitter with Ward for betraying her, Skye stubbornly avoids the guarded room where Ward is recovering. That is, until the earthquakes start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the noose around your neck

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this is set in an au where instead of helping Skye deal with her powers, they give her something to mute them, which will end up backfiring.

Skye wasn't a particularly big fan of solo missions. Especially blind ones.   
  
Extraction missions were fine, she guessed, although they were usually pretty boring. Go in, get whoever it was, get out. Unfortunately, for this one she had to wait until she was right outside the door until she found out who she was looking for. And since Coulson had been so adamant about not telling her who it was, she had a suspicion that she wasn't going to like whoever was on the other side of the door.   
  
Getting into the HYDRA base was relatively easy. She alternated between her ICER and her pistol, shooting down any agent that got suspicious. At one point, she'd had to seduce one of them until she could get ahold of her gun. She'd left the agent unconscious in the middle of the hallway.   
  
When she reached the door, the phone she'd been given for the mission vibrated slightly in her pocket. She scanned her surroundings quickly, then pulled it out and opened it. The agent's profile took a moment to load, but she only needed a split second to recognize the agent she was retrieving. Grant Ward.   
  
"Seriously?" She hissed into her earpiece. Coulson sighed on the other end.   
  
"I'll explain when you come back. Hurry up."   
  
With a deep breath and a mental note to never agree to a blind mission again, she grabbed the handle and pulled  the door open. The inside of the room was a lot less fancy than the outside had been. The walls were clean and white, almost to the point of being hard to look at. Silver tools lay neatly on a tray. A sink sat near the back of the room, drips of water leaking from the tap.   
  
In the middle of the room, Grant Ward lay limply on a table. His shirt and shoes were gone, revealing the ugly wounds covering his torso. Several looked like they were infected. Some were still bleeding, running down his side onto the table. He had a blindfold over his eyes and a gag stuffed into his mouth. He was so skinny that Skye could clearly see outlines of his ribs through his pale skin.   
  
"Should I wake him?" She asked, dreading Coulson's answer.   
  
"Do you see any other way to get him out of there?"   
  
She looked down at the table. No wheels, and nothing else in the room that could possibly help her move him. She groaned.   
  
"Nope."   
  
"Then you have to wake him. Hang on, there's somebody coming."   
  
Coulson disappeared off the line, leaving Skye alone with Ward. She started by untying his feet, reasoning that he'd be easier to wake if she untied him first.   
  
He started to stir when she finished with his waist, whimpering quietly and tilting his head to the side. She reached up and untied the gag in his mouth; she wouldn't take the blindfold off yet. She wasn't ready.   
  
"Don't move. I'm here to help."   
  
"Sure you are." He coughed harshly, spewing blood onto the table. "I don't know anything else. Can't you just kill me?"   
  
"I hope for your sake you haven't told them anything." She stepped back to examine the damage. "Can you stand?"       
  
"Do I have a choice?"   
  
"Not really."   
  
She grabbed his shoulder and helped him pull himself up, jumping slightly when he tried to grab her forearm for support. He took a moment to get his balance.  
  
"It might work better if you take the blindfold off," Ward mumbled. Skye scowled.  
  
"I know. I'll get it."   
  
She grit her teeth and reached around him, grabbing the blindfold and pulling it off of his head. He blinked dizzily, then focused on her.   
  
"Skye," he stammered. "You-"  
  
"Don't say anything. It's my job to get you out of here, and I'm going to do it. That doesn't mean I have to be nice to you."   
  
"I didn't think so."   
  
She let him use her shoulder for support as he stood up, practically carrying him until he could get his balance.   
  
"Is there anything I need to know?"   
  
"They recorded their sessions with me, if you want to know exactly what I said. The camera is in the corner."   
  
She glanced over to where he was pointing, noticing that there actually was a camera set up on a tripod. She shuddered.   
  
"That's disturbing."   
  
"It gets worse."   
  
Skye ignored him and pressed the button in her ear.  
  
"Coulson? I've got him."   
  
"Good. This should go smoothly, then. Get out of there. And Skye?"   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Be careful. He may look defenseless, but he could still be lying."   
  
"Got it." She looked at Ward, who was leaning heavily on the wall. "I'm bringing the camera HYDRA used to tape him. Maybe it'll tell us something."   
  
Coulson took a moment to answer.   
  
"Good idea. Make sure they don't have any trackers on him."   
  
Skye turned to Ward and scowled.   
  
"Did they tag you?"   
  
"I don't think so."   
  
She peered at his face for a moment, looking for anything to signify a lie. She cupped his face in her hands, making him draw back slightly. Something in his left eye glinted.   
  
"Do you wear contacts?"   
  
"No."   
  
"Hold still." She reached up and put her finger on his eyelid, holding it open so she could get into his eye. She used her fingertips to pull the tracker out of his eye.   
  
"Got it."   
  
He winced, but didn't say anything. She shrugged and unlatched the camera from the tripod.   
  
"Do you think you'll make it out, or will I have to drag your ass to the plane?"   
  
"Probably the second." He admitted. "...I'll do my best."   
  
"You'd better. Come on."   
  
She looped his arm around her shoulders and straightened, trying not to notice that the hand he had on her arm was trembling. His other hand, she realized, was hanging limply by his side, purple with bruises. She decided she didn't want to know what had  
happened to it.   
  
Slowly and awkwardly, they made their way out the door and down the stairs, flashing her stolen HYDRA ID at a wall panel in front of the doors.   
  
Getting out of the building wasn't hard. The team had cleared away any possible threats, and anyone who got in her way, she ICED. Even Ward made it easier, managing to stay conscious until they reached the stolen HYDRA van.   
  
May and Simmons were waiting inside, along with the team who had gone in before her. Jemma's eyes widened when she saw Ward.   
  
"Why is he-"   
  
"I don't know, but Coulson had better have a good explanation."  
  
Simmons leaned forward to examine his body.   
  
"He's a mess. What did they do to him?"   
  
Skye held out the camera.   
  
"They filmed it, apparently." She gagged. "Not exactly a family movie night kind of thing."   
  
"It might help, though. We'll be able to tell if he's lying."   
  
"Still, it's not something I'm going to like watching. I don't care how much of a horrible person he is; I don't want to watch him tortured."   
  
"I wouldn't think you'd want to watch anyone tortured..." Simmons muttered absently, having been distracted by something. "Look at this. It looks like they've shattered his hand."   
  
"Simmons, do you think this is a good idea? Saving his life?"      
  
Simmons sighed.   
  
"I don't know. I think we should try to save him, but what if it backfires on us? You've seen what he can do. What happens if he gets us to trust him and betrays us again?"   
  
"I'm not going to trust him." Her eyes found the bullet scars on his side. "I don't care what he says."   
  
"You're right to do that, Skye, but you're going to have to trust him a little bit. After something like this? He's not exactly going to trust you, either."   
  
Skye looked up at the other girl and shrugged.  
  
"I know." **  
  
  
**


	2. You've got 'em wrapped around your finger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several members of Coulson's team yell at him. Ward continues to bleed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit of a filler, I'm sorry. And no, I do not like Coulson.

"What the hell?" 

Skye spat the sentence hours later, storming into the director's office. Coulson sighed. 

"Skye, I know you don't like him, but–" 

"Don't like him? He's a murderer! He betrayed us to HYDRA. Of course I don't like him." 

"You may not like him, but he knows too much about us. Think about what HYDRA could know after all the time they've had him." 

"The time they've had him... How long have you known?" 

Behind them, the doctor entered the room. Coulson sighed again. 

"A few days. But I checked the tape on the camera, and it looks like they've had him for around five weeks." 

He looked at the doctor, who Skye noticed was covered in a combination of blood and vomit. 

"Doctor Conners?" He smiled, then attempted to make a joke. "You're looking well." 

"Likewise, Director." The doctor wasn't amused. "I have an update on Agent Ward." 

Neither bothered to correct her. 

"And?"

"He's not doing well. We're still working on him, but so far we've found that his left hand is completely shattered. Aside from that, he hasn't eaten for at least a week, and he has a high fever." 

"That can't be all," Skye interrupted. Doctor Conners nodded. 

"No. He's dangerously low on blood and has quite a few infections. There's also evidence of severe blood poisoning." 

"Weren't there burns?" 

"Four. Two of them are third degree. We haven't found any others yet, but we're still working on his torso. I'm sure there will be more." 

"How long do you think until we can put him back in the vault?" 

"A few weeks at least. We'll have to see how well he heals." 

Coulson shifted uncomfortably. "Is he awake?" 

Connors shook her head, folding her hands over her lab coat. 

"No. He woke up a couple of minutes ago, but started throwing up. We put him to sleep."

The two agents exchanged an uneasy glance. Coulson nodded at the doctor. 

"We appreciate it. Thank you." 

Connors gave the two a glance that Skye couldn't quite decipher, then disappeared out the door. Skye turned to Coulson.

"What's up with her?" 

"Doctor Connors isn't exactly keen on the idea of putting Ward back into the vault. She believes that we should be putting Ward into therapy instead of locking him up in solitary." He shrugged, nodding as Hunter appeared in the doorway. "I guess his situation now isn't really convincing her change her position on the matter." 

Lance snorted in the doorway. 

"His situation? I'm not gonna pretend I know what he's done to you guys, but you can't help but feel bad for the bastard." He shook his head. "Speaking of which, don't look in there. It's pretty brutal." 

"You went in?" 

"Of course I did. It's bloody loud in there, and for all I knew you weren't going to tell any of us what was going on." 

"We can talk about that later." Coulson fixed the Brit with a disapproving look, which was shrugged off. "I'm calling a team meeting. Would you two mind calling everyone down?" 

"Not at all, director." Hunter winked in Skye's direction. "After you, darling." 

Skye whacked his arm on the way out, returning the wink. Lance followed closely behind her. 

"So did seeing him trigger anything?" He asked. "Are we going to be experiencing any random earthquakes here, or...?" 

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "The thing Coulson gave me locked that power up again." 

"Yeah, but you can't expect that to work forever." 

"I trust that it will work." Skye glared pointedly. "You want to split up?" 

"Yup. I go left, you go right?" 

"Agreed." 

"Oh, by the way." Lance started down the hallway, turning to smirk at her. "Simmons is in the room with Ward. Have fun with that!" 

"You're despicable." 

"Somewhat." 

She turned and started to head down the hallway, ducking into rooms to find the different members of the group. The room where Ward was being worked on was near the end of the corridor, near where the door to the hanger was. Skye took a deep breath before opening the door. 

Inside, Ward was lying on a metal table. His cloths had been mostly cut away, leaving only his underwear, exposing the bloody marks covering his body. Skye couldn't manage to pull her eyes away as one of the doctors looked up at her. 

"Do you need something?" 

"Simmons..." Skye said weakly. Across the room, Jemma looked up from the monitor. She waved the doctor off and ran up to her friend. 

"Is something wrong?" 

"Coulson wanted a meeting." She tore her eyes from the mess that was Ward's body and nodded at the door. "Do you have time?" 

"I'm sure they'll be fine without me," Simmons said. She turned to call back to one of the doctors, "Make sure you get that shoulder closed up!" 

"How's he doing?" Skye asked, once the two had left the room. 

"Better." Jemma crossed her arms. "He'll live, but his recovery will take quite some time. I don't like the idea of keeping him in the hospital, though... Maybe we could set a room up in the vault, like we did with Bakshi." 

"Maybe," Skye echoed. "I have to go find everyone else. I'll see you downstairs." 

She turned and disappeared down the hall to collect the other members of the team, who were talking in one of the kitchens. The group of them marched down to the space Coulson had deemed the meeting room. 

"Thanks," Coulson told her as she passed. She smiled halfheartedly and took her place between May and Simmons. 

"I'm sure you all heard how well this morning's mission went," he started. 

"We rescued Ward," Simmons said on Skye's left. Fitz started. 

"We what?" 

"We did rescue Ward," Coulson admitted. "That's a bit complicated. As I was saying..." 

But obviously nobody wanted to hear what Coulson had been going to say. Skye later found out that he was going to be educating them on a psychotic HYDRA spy, but that was much less interesting. 

"Why did we rescue Ward? And why did we rescue him from HYDRA - doesn't he work for them?" 

"Fine." Coulson held up his hands in surrender. "I got a message from Ward a few days ago. He said HYDRA had him, and that he needed help. I was going to leave him there – after what he's done to us, he would deserve it – but when I realized how much he could have told them about us, I knew we had to get him out of there." 

Nobody spoke for several moments. Then Fitz raised a hand. 

"Forgive me for saying this, Sir, but that was a pretty... Uh..." He frowned. "I can't really... I can't say this the right way without seeming like I'm accusing you." 

"That's a pretty selfish thing to do?" Bobbi suggested. Fitz nodded. 

"Ward might have done some awful things, but we shouldn't just leave him to be tortured to death." 

"Fitz," Simmons said gently. "You of all people should know why having Ward here is dangerous–" 

"Don't tell me what I should know, Jemma!" Fitz snapped. "All I'm saying is that I thought SHIELD was supposed to give people second chances?" 

Coulson didn't answer. 

"I think we should have this meeting tomorrow," May suggested. "We all need to calm down." 

Everybody nodded. Skye mouthed 'sorry' to Coulson before following after May, eager to escape the tension of the room.


	3. the wires pulling while you're breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye tries to find out what Ward has told Hydra. It doesn't go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, my tumblr is http://angiemartinalli.tumblr.com.

Ward woke up four days later, gasping some girl's name before truly getting his bearings. Skye was given the duty of finding out who that girl was while Coulson and the doctor went to talk to him. 

"He's afraid of us," Simmons told her later, after they had sedated him again. "Honestly, I can understand why. He's been tortured for weeks, and the last time we saw him, you put three bullets in his chest. Have you found the girl?" 

Skye nodded. 

"Kara Lynn Palamas, also known as Agent 33. Not sure if I want to know why he's asking for her." 

"That's your job to find out." Coulson appeared in the doorway, holding up a file folder. Doctor Connors (who Skye had found out was named ‘Lindsey’) was standing behind him. "You'll be interrogating him." 

"Coulson–" 

"I know you don't want to see him, Skye, but you managed to get him out of there, so maybe he'll talk to you." 

"The last time I saw him I shot him." 

"No, the last time you saw him you saved him. Give it a try. He can't hurt you; we'll make sure of that." 

So that was how, hours later, Skye ended up in the guarded hospital room Ward had been moved to. When she first walked into the room, he jumped, like he was afraid she would hurt him. He stayed tense as she strode across the room and pulled up a chair, opening her folder and pulling out a sheet of questions.

"Feeling better?" 

"I can't feel anything," he said, with a faintest trace of a smile. She glared. 

"Can you remember your name?" 

"Yes." Then, when she started to open her mouth, he added, "Grant Ward."

"Do you remember who I am?" 

"Skye." He said quietly. "Agent of SHIELD." 

Ward seemed to shrink with every word, as if it pained him to say her name. She tried to ignore the tug of something like guilt in her gut. 

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Doc says you can't handle anything big yet, so I'm supposed to go easy on you." Skye looked up and cocked her head. "Let's see how that works out, shall we?" 

No answer. 

"Who is Kara Palamas?" 

"You should know who she is. Agent 33. Whitehall brainwashed her." He deflated into the pillows behind him, seeming to move farther away from where Skye sat. "She had May's face." 

"Why did you call her?" 

Ward looked confused. 

"What?" 

"You called her name when you woke up. Any specific reason for that?" 

He tilted his head slightly. "Have you seen her?" 

"Answer the question."

"I won't say unless you promise not to hurt her." 

Skye wasn't expecting the way he was looking at her– with real fear, like he actually believed she would hurt Agent 33. Or maybe she was overestimating him. 

"Done." 

No, Ward definitely looked terrified, and his breathing was speeding up, becoming almost forced. 

"She's my friend," he mumbled finally. "We teamed up after Puerto Rico. I helped her get her face back." 

Skye blinked in surprise.

"Oh." 

Ward took several deep breaths, finally turning to look at her. 

"Can you breathe, Ward?" 

Grant shook his head. 

"There's a mask on the-the table. I can't reach it, can y-you–" 

"Here." Skye grabbed the mask, then drew back, realizing with a start that she would need to touch Ward – again – to put the mask on. Grant's attempts at breathing were getting worse. Cautiously, she leaned forward and slipped the mask over his head. 

There was a moment of silence as Ward adjusted to the mask. 

"Sorry." 

"Don't apologize." 

He didn't answer, and she didn't say anything else. The only noise in the room was the beep of the monitors and Ward's amplified breathing. 

(She was tempted to make a joke about how he sounded like Darth Vader, but she didn't. That was too comfortable). 

"Can you keep going?" She asked finally, nodding at the folder. Ward nodded. 

"What did you tell them?" 

"All lies." There was a hint of a smirk on his lips. "I lied about the name of the base. I gave them the wrong coordinates, I lied about things you asked, things and people you were looking for." 

"So all they have on us is lies?" 

"Yeah. Unless I..." He swallowed hard, not meeting her eyes. "Unless I don't remember. I could have said..." 

His eyes unfocused, and Skye closed the folder. That was enough for one day.

"Feel better," she said without emotion, and stood up. Ward watched her go. Just before she reached the door, he spoke. 

"Thank you."

He looked away for a moment, but when she turned to look at him, expression blank, he continued. 

"For saving me. I know you didn't do it for me, but..." He sighed. "I appreciate it all the same." 

She just continued to stare at him blankly, considering. Cautiously, he opened his mouth to continue. 

"I'm not saying that I wouldn't have taken my life back when you had me – I would have. I still would... Maybe." He swallowed. "But being tortured to death isn't really how I would do it." 

Skye took a moment to speak, choosing her words carefully. 

"Thanks for being honest." 

"Well, I promised I would be." 

She spun around and left the room before he could say anything else.


End file.
